Announcements, Conferences, Exhibitions

October 2009

Japanese Mandalas
18 June-29 November 2009, The Sackler Wing Galleries for the Arts of Japan, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The introduction of esoteric Buddhism to Japan from mainland China in the ninth century forever changed the visual landscape of Japanese religion and of Japanese art as a whole.  The rituals of Mikkyo Buddhism, or the “Secret Teachings” as the newly imported doctrine was called, involve a preponderance of arrestingly beautiful and fearsome images that aim to reveal ultimate truths to the initiated.  At the core of Mikkyo is the Mandala of Both Realms, paired cosmic diagrams of the Diamond World and the Matrix World.  The installation explores the art of Mikkyo Buddhism from the models used to create these mandalas to the images they inspired.  Important early iconographic drawings, paintings, sculpture, and textiles from the Metropolitan’s permanent collection are displayed with outstanding works from other institutions and private collections.

 

The Chimaera of Arezzo
16 July 2009-8 February 2010, The Getty Villa, Pacific Palisades CA

Inaugurating a partnership with the National Archaeological Museum in Florence, this exhibition traces the myth of Bellerophon and the Chimaera over five centuries of classical art.  Featured is a masterpiece of Etruscan sculpture known as the Chimaera of Arezzo: a large-scale bronze of the triple-headed, fire-breathing monster that was slain by the virtuous hero.  From its ancient dedication to the supreme Etruscan deity in a sanctuary at Arezzo to its Renaissance display in the Medici collection, the Chimaera has endured as an emblem of the triumph of right over might.

William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun"
11 September 2009-24 January 2010, The Morgan Library and Museum, New York

This exhibition, drawn from the Morgan’s extensive holdings, is the first devoted to the breadth of William Blake (1757–1827) and his accomplishments in nearly three decades.  Equally renowned as poet and artist, printmaker and engraver, William Blake can be studied in depth at the Morgan for his creative achievements as well as those of the followers whom he influenced.  Containing major examples of his engraved and color-printed works, the show includes drawings by the prominent artistic and literary figures of Blake’s youth, including young artists who became his followers in later life.  The exhibition also highlights the work that is uniquely Blake: the lyrical poetry, the Continental prophesies created in response to the American and French revolutions, and the complete watercolor sequences of The Book of Job and Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso that illustrate the peak of his career.  William Blake created the third of his illuminated books in 1790 at the age of thirty-three.  The exhibition title derives from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a satire on the philosophy and theology of Emanuel Swedenborg in which Blake claims that his own birth in 1757 represents the beginning of a new artistic vision: “As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent: the Eternal Hell revives.”

 

 

Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World
11 October 2009-3 January 2010, Clowes Gallery in Wood Pavilion, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis IN

This exhibition will explore the exaggerated aesthetic and expressive means employed by seventeenth-century Spanish artists to convey religious experience.  The objects chosen for the exhibition were created explicitly to arouse wonder, devotion, and identification, resulting in art of enormous power and originality.  Sacred Spain will include works of art in all media, including paintings by well-known artists such as El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán and Murillo, as well as less well-known masterpieces of polychrome sculpture, liturgical silver, embroidered vestments, and illuminated manuscripts.  It will also include works from colonial Spanish America and the Philippines.

 

Tobi Khan: Sacred Spaces for the 21st Century
16 October 2009-24 January 2010, Museum of Biblical Art, New York

This exhibition will discuss the creation of sacred space in the 21st century, starting from Tobi Kahn's recent commission for Congregation Emanu-El B'ne Jeshrun in Milwaukee, which is conceived as a cohesive work of art composed of various elements (paintings, liturgical object, doors for the ark) helping define the space of the sanctuary.  The exhibition, which will include other works by Kahn, will travel nationally after opening at MOBIA.

 

Falnama: The Book of Omens
24 October 2009-24 January 2010, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC

Whether by consulting the position of the planets, casting horoscopes, or interpreting dreams, the art of divination was widely practiced throughout the Islamic world.  The most splendid tools ever devised to foretell the future were illustrated texts known as the Falnama (Book of Omens).  Notable for their monumental size, brilliantly painted compositions, and unusual subject matter, the manuscripts, created in Safavid Iran and Ottoman Turkey in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, are the centerpiece of Falnama: The Book of Omens.  This is the first exhibition ever devoted to these extraordinary manuscripts, which remain largely unpublished, and sheds new light on their artistic, cultural, and religious significance.

 

March 2010

Northeast 2010 Regional Christianity and Literature Conference: Christianity and the Detective Story
5-7 March 2010, Pace University, New York NY

Ralph McInerny, author of the Father Dowling Mysteries, will be the featured speaker.

 

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS 

Cologne Cathedral Window by Gerhard Richter
Cologne Cathedral has a new stained-glass southern window, "Symphony of Light," designed by Gerhard Richter, one of Germany's most important living artists.  11,500 squares of glass in 72 colors fill the 20-meter-high window.  The southern window has consisted of simple unadorned glass since the original stained-glass window was destroyed during World War II.
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Envision Church
An online resource sponsored by the Georgetown Center for Liturgy, Envision Church draws primarily on the Catholic tradition as it seeks to "generate a community of people whose interests, talents, creativity, and collaborative spirit will bring about a deeper and richer worship life for the Church."  To this end, Envision Church features articles that examine the use of art in the liturgical tradition, images from an array of worship spaces across six continents, a database of religious art events and announcements, and a library of glossaries, bibliographies, and church documents.
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Directory of Studies in the Visual Culture of Religion
This online directory, founded in 2005 by the Centre for Studies in the Visual Culture of Religion at the School of Art, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, aims “to define (for the first time) the emergent discipline of the visual culture of religion” by charting the research and activities of a wide range of scholars in the field of the visual culture of religion and related disciplines.  The Directory invites scholars to submit profiles detailing research interests, institutional affiliations, teaching experience, and publications.  In the near future, the resulting database will be accessible to all registered users with the goal of fostering both collaborative projects and a sense of collegiality.

Inquiries:  Contact the Directory Administrator at csvcr@aber.ac.uk.
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Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited
Photographer and writer Rick Nahmias has produced a new body of work entitled "Golden States of Grace: Prayers of the Disinherited" which has recently premiered in southern California and will soon be touring as a traveling exhibit. The work examines marginalized communities at prayer through a blend of black and white photography, text, and audio.
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The Peter Milward, S.J. Shakespeare Collection
The Burns Rare Book Library at Boston College currently houses the Peter Milward, S.J. Shakespeare Collection of Milward Criticism--a complete collection of Milward's books, articles, and chapters on Shakespeare totaling some two hundred items. The library is soon to receive the entire collection of Milward's critical output, currently at the Renaissance Center, Sophia University, Japan. This collection consists of over 350 books (including many in Japanese) authored by Milward, plus more than a thousand articles and other material, including manuscripts and correspondence. The Milward Collection will be part of the Burns Library collection of twentieth-century Catholic and Jesuit material.

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